Please complete to schedule your ring light session!

$99 Nouvelle Head Shots

Need a Head Shot update? It's recommended that actors do this twice a year. Online business or blogger? You need a great head shot too! A good head shot is perfect for social media, online dating and LinkedIn! I also do on-site business sessions for entire office suites for up to date website info and advertising. Please click on the "booking" button above to request a session!

The studio is located in Lowertown Saint Paul in the Jax artist building. Please let me know if you need assistance in reaching the 5th floor beyond use of the stairs. Freight elevator available.

Street Parking only. Free after 5pm! On Greenline across from the Union Depot. Take the train and receive 10% off with your ticket.

Natural Light

Studio Light

Master non-verbal communication

90% of human communication is non-verbal. For someone who captures images of people that's really good news. I can effectively convey to my audience a feeling or emotion with poses and positioning.

In the above examples you can see that by changing my positioning I've completely changed the mood of both images. I've also changed the lighting to emphasize the pose, and implied emotion.

For the more sensual pose shot in landscape, I've created hard shadows with my light. For the more aggressive pose shot in portrait I've lightened the image by reducing my shadows and pulling the light more in front of my subject. I feel by doing this I've made my primary subject Margaret appear to be in control in both images regardless of the positioning.

It helps when setting up your shot to know what feeling your attempting to translate with your image and to effectively communicate that to your subject. I always show a couple of frames to my model so that she or he can see what it is that they're doing and how it's translating to the end result. I know a lot of photographers tend to shy away from this practice but I want to build confidence in both my subjects performance and my ability to make them shine in the final image. I want everyone to feel confident in what we're doing because when everyone feels good about what's going on we all preform better.

I also tend to build mood boards with images that convey my intended emotional content. This helps me visualize what I'd like to create, and assists in showing my subject what it is that we're going to attempt to photograph emotionally.

Have fun finding things you like and combining light and poses to create different emotions in your compositions. Don't be afraid to try a couple of different things to see what works best for what you'd like to accomplish, and experiment! I wouldn't recommend replicating images, but finding your own voice and creating unique original content!

Minnehaha Falls, Minneapolis

Minnehaha Falls is always a great spot to visit and capture beautiful portraits. There's lots of spaces that are in the park that are fun to photograph besides the falls themselves. As the leaves change color this is a captivating and inspirational location. Be sure to save some time for lunch and stop by the Cafe. Parking is just .75 per hour unless you have a yearly parks permit. There is also a walking trail to get lost in, be sure to explore as much as you can!

The photo below is of one of the areas of the park with benches to sit or photograph. The "fountain" is a really fun backdrop with either trees or skyline to choose depending on the direction you're shooting. I like to hit up this spot as the sun is setting for maximum impact.

Jim's Apple Orchard, Jordan

Besides offering you orchards to pick your favorite variety of Apple, Jim's also boasts the World's largest soda selection inside of Minnesota's largest candy store. So, if apples don't fully appease your sweet tooth... Jim's offers you candy, pie, soda and more. The grounds are really fun to shoot in and the kids will surely be motivated to cooperate with a promised trip inside the shop once you're done with your photo session!

Irvine Park, St. Paul

Irvine Park was the space that I hung out in during High School and still seems to be a choice spot for just taking a break. There are inspirational places throughout the park for photographing or enjoying the afternoon. The leaves are just starting to change color and the light is really beautiful here this time of year between 4:30 and 6pm. When you're done have a treat at Mickey's Dining Car just a few blocks away. Gotta love Saint Paul!

Rustic Barber Header images, Free for personal use

I capture images for designers to use as stock and I'm giving away some images here free for personal use. Please feel free to "drag and drop" and create some designs out of the images provided below. Enjoy!

Categories

Mailing list:

Nouvelle Design Studio

Elle Halls is a member of the American Photographic Artists

What our customers have to say

I worked with Elle Halls of Nouvelle Design Studio for my business profile picture (used for LinkedIn, email, website, business cards, etc.) and she was amazing! She really listened to what I wanted, and made me a part of the process, stopping many times throughout the shoot to show me how the photos were looking. What I thought was going to be a "business errand/chore" ended up being a lot of fun! I highly recommend using Elle for your photography project.

Thumbtack client Kristin J.

Excellent experience. Elle was able to coach out the "model" in me and provided many shots I can pick from. She went well above and beyond me expectations and the final product is excellent.Thumbtack client Scott J.

Working with Elle was wonderful! I was doing a fashion shoot and it was so fun! She's very nice, funny, and professional, the shoot went like that! She has a very keen eye and did wonderful work! Very happy with my photos. Thanks, Elle! Thumbtack client Elena C.

I love the photos of myself and my daughter. We were given excellent direction so we could get the best shots. I couldn't be happier with the results! I highly recommend booking a session for any type of photography you are looking for!